Pirate
by E. Linnet
Summary: A missing moment from DMC, then picking up after the kiss. JackElizabeth, or, as I like to say, Sparrabethical.


Swann's Note: You know how pretty much every Sparrabethical (my new word if ya didn't know :D ) fan needs to write a post The-Best-Scene-In-The-Movie angsty fic? Yeah, I resisted for one whole month (BE PROUD OF ME!), but I just couldn't resist this one. It starts out with a really sweet missing scene (after Curiosity...I think...) of me very own creation.

Full Summary: Couldn't resist, mate :D

Disclaimer: If I owned POTC...1. I'd be rich, 2. I'd have ears and go by 'Mickey', and, 3. POTC wouldn't look the same. At all. Evil things would happen. EVIIIL!

_Pirate._

Jack looked out across the helm of the Pearl as Elizabeth walked up behind him.

"The sea looks beautiful today," She said quietly, holding his compass.

"Indeed, she does." Came Jack's simple reply.

"I brought you're compass back." Elizabeth said, holding it out to him.

"Done with it already? Is it really still broken?" Jack asked with a small smile. He was distracted, though, Elizabeth could tell.

"Yes...No...I have no idea, Jack...what's wrong?" Elizabeth noticed the faraway look in his eyes and knew he was worried. Captain Jack Sparrow shouldn't be worried.

"Lizzie, love, we need to talk." Jack said, facing her.

"About what?"

"'Lizabeth, Davy Jones won't be long now. The Kraken's on the hunt, I heard stories in Tortuga. I may be a good man, but I'm not half as brave as you think I am." Jack said, stepping away from the helm and closer to Elizabeth.

"Jack, what do you mean?" She was worried, now. She knew that Jack had something very important on his mind, and whatever it was, it wasn't good.

"I mean...'Lizabeth, promise me that when 'ole Davy and his beastie come for me, you won't be within a hundred miles. And that, more importantly, if it comes down to it, which it probably will, you need to leave me behind. I don't want to be the cause of you and my crew's death."

"It...it won't, Jack, I swear it won't..." Elizabeth felt a lump in her throat, and attempted to swallow it, but not before a few tears fell from her eyes.

"Lizzie love, don't cry..." Jack said, looking as though he was going to reach out to touch her, but thought better of it.

"I'm a pirate, Jack. Pirates don't cry." Elizabeth said, wiping away her tears hastily.

"You don't want to be a pirate, love." Jack said, leaning against the rail of the Pearl.

"Why not? You said that it was freedom." Elizabeth argued, standing next to him.

"A ship is freedom. The sea is freedom. Lizzie...being a pirate is a last choice. It's what you do when there's nothing left. Anyway, that's what I did it for. To escape from the society...I was orphaned at a young age, you see, and became a pirate, a stowaway with Barbossa." Jack explained, looking at her intently.

"Oh. So you don't want me to be a pirate with...you're crew?" Elizabeth had stopped herself short of saying 'you.'

"No. _you_ don't want it. Believe me, Elizabeth," At this, he handed her a pair of irons, "You won't want to even hear that word after what you've done to me."

"Jack...I won't do it! I...I won't leave you behind, condemn you to death!"

"And why's that, Lizzie?" Jack asked, looking mildly interested.

"Because...because I think I'm falling in love with you." She said in a half-whisper, looking shocked at herself.

"'Lizabeth...'Lizabeth...that's a horrible thing to do. It always..._always_ ends in tears." Jack said confidently, shoving the irons into her hands. Elizabeth turned, and almost began to walk away, when Jack put his hand on her shoulder, then moved it to her cheek.

"But...I think I know...exactly how you feel." Jack muttered, looking straight into her eyes for the second time that week.

And as she walked away, Jack could only think one thing about what he had just done.

_Pirate._

Elizabeth broke from the kiss as she knew she had successfully chained Jack to the mast.

"It's after you, not the ship, don't you see? I'm...not sorry." Her vision was blurred with tears, but Jack was looking at her as though he had won. Because, in all truth, he had. He had proved that she was a...

"Pirate." He muttered, smiling at her almost proudly.

And as Elizabeth half walked, half ran back to the boat, she knew that all along Jack was right. She _didn't _even want to hear that word, now that she had condemned a man that she could never have loved to Jones' locker.

She despised him for being one, and for being right. And she despised herself even more for turning into the thing she had dreamed of, all her childhood, and feeling sick because of it. She despised herself for being weak, and for acting...

_Like a pirate._


End file.
